In this technical field, methods and apparatuses are already known which make it possible to integrate the fabrication of tire reinforcement structures in the assembly of the tire itself. This means that, rather than using semi finished products, such as reinforcement plies, one or more reinforcement structures are produced in situ, at the time of manufacture of the tire, and using a single coil of thread.
Amongst these methods and apparatuses, the solution described in the patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,436 proposes to produce reinforcement structures from a single thread. This solution in particular allows the production of a reinforcement structure under the tread.
It is also well known how to produce a reinforcement structure for a tire from a strip comprising reinforcement threads parallel to each other and embedded in a rubber or other elastomer composition. Such a strip is cut into portions and the portions are deposited adjacent to each other on a fabrication support, where the architecture so requires, in order to produce the tire reinforcement structure desired by the tire designer. Amongst the various variants of a method of fabrication from strips, the patent U.S. Pat. No. 1,728,957 can be cited, which describes fabricating strips and then cutting portions and arranging strips on a substantially toroidal fabrication form, ensuring that a pitch which is as constant as possible is kept between the adjacent threads in the portion.
The technique of fabricating reinforcement structures from a strip has however not found many industrial applications since on the one hand it does not have the productivity of fabrication from plies and on the other hand it does not have the flexibility and precision of a technique of fabrication from an individual thread. When it is wished to fabricate a tire according to a technique affording little or absolutely no conformation of the uncured product during its manufacture, it is of prime importance to be able to deposit the reinforcement structures and the uncured rubber products constituting the future tire with very great precision with regard to both their positioning and the quantity of material deposited on the fabrication form.